The House Education and the Workforce Committee is investigating complaints from whistleblowers that the Labor Department is working against laws governing compensation claims for ill nuclear workers or their families, according to news reports Tuesday.

"These are alarming reports that we intend to get to the bottom of," a spokeswoman for the committee, chaired by North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, told The Washington Free Beacon.

"We will work with the new administration and DOL's Office of Inspector General to understand what went wrong and ensure the program is providing the support these nuclear workers and their families deserve."

According to complaints, Labor Department officials wrote regulations and manipulated them "to deny or delay claims to nuclear workers who should have received them under the law," the Free Beacon reports.

In July, the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups wrote the inspector general calling for an investigation — alleging that agency administrators were "illegally instituting new rules to unjustifiably deny payments to claimants, particularly when it comes to wage-loss compensation."

The alliance called on Congress last week to hold hearings on the whistleblower's accusations regarding the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

Terrie Barrie, one of the group's founding members, told the Free Beacon that she was encouraged by the actions by the House panel.

"I am so grateful that they are committed to investigating the issues that [the whistleblower] and the advocates have raised," she said. "I am confident that the committee will find evidence that confirms our allegations."

The House Education and the Workforce Committee is investigating complaints from whistleblowers that the Labor Department is working against laws governing compensation claims for ill nuclear workers or their families, according to news reports Tuesday.